He vanished with the fog.
“Those kind of threats—” Iona broke off, gestured toward the flaming towers, the screams. “Would you mind?”
“Hmm. I rather like it, but . . .” Branna whisked it away. “They’re not threats, not in his mind, but promises. We’ll see he breaks them. I’d hoped he’d take wolf form, at least for a few moments. I want the name of what made him.”
“Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub?”
Branna smiled a little. “I think not. A lesser demon, and one who needs Cabhan as Cabhan needs it. The pair of them left a stink in the air. Let’s have that gallop now, and go by and see your house.”
“The sticks and stones?”
“Are solid and strong. And real.”
Iona nodded. “Branna, what if . . . if while you’re with Fin you got pregnant?”
“I won’t. I’ve taken precautions.” With that she urged Aine into a gallop.
• • •
SHE GAVE AINE A CARROT AND A RUBDOWN, SO WHEN FIN came into the stables he found both her and Iona.
“I’m told you went for a ride.”
“We did, and it reminded me how I enjoy it.” She leaned her cheek to Aine’s. “You did say she and I should get acquainted.”
“I didn’t have in mind you going off alone.”
“I wasn’t alone. I was with Iona and she with me, with Aine and Alastar and the dogs altogether. Oh, don’t try to slither out because he’s glowering,” she said to Iona. “You’re tougher than that. We had a conversation with Cabhan—no more really than a volley of harsh words all around. We’ll tell you and the others the whole of it.”
“Bloody right you will.” He started to grab Branna’s arm, and Aine butted him in the shoulder with her head.
“Taking her side now?”
“She’s mine, after all. And knows as well as I do we had no trouble, and took no more risks than any of us do when taking a step out of the house. I suppose you’ll want a meal with the telling.”
“I could eat,” Iona said.
“We’ll have it all here,” Fin told them.
“With what?”
He took Branna’s arm now, but casually. “You’ve given me lists every time I turn around. There’s enough in the kitchen to put together a week of meals.”
“As it should be. All right then. Iona, would you mind telling the others while I see what I can put together in Finbar’s famous kitchen?”
“You went out looking for him,” Fin accused.
“I didn’t, no, but I didn’t go out not expecting to find him.”
“You knew he’d come at you.”
“He didn’t come at us, not in any way as you mean. Only words. A kind of testing ground on his part, I’m thinking. I’d hoped he’d come as the wolf, so I could try to get the name, but he was only a man.”
Inside, she took off her coat, handed it to Fin. “And we did have a lovely ride around it, coming back so I could see the progress on Iona’s house. It’s going to be lovely, just lovely. An open kind of space, and still a few snug little places for the cozy. Coming back here that way, I had a different perspective on this house. That room with all the windows that juts toward the woods. It must be a lovely place to sit and look out, all year long. Private enough, and steps from the trees.”
She rummaged in the refrigerator, freezer, cupboards as she spoke.
“I’ve a recipe for these chicken breasts Connor’s fond of. It gives them a bite.” Head angled, she sent him a challenging look. “Can you take a bite, Fin?”